Waiting
by Hisa-Ai
Summary: The Well's sealed up and Kagome hasn't come back. Life is very different for InuYasha now; all he can seem to do with his time is wait by the Well. What if she never comes back? He doesn't care. He'll wait for her until the day he dies. Will she return?


So this is set after they defeat Narauku, Kagome wishes away the Shikon no Tama, and the Well seals up, with Kagome on one side, and InuYasha on the other. I got the idea for this last Thursday and immediately wanted to just forget about it and, you know, _not_ write it, because I knew, even though I hadn't written it out yet, that it would make me cry. But the more I fought it, the more something in me wanted to write it, and so I started it then but then left it alone for a few days. Then last night, I came across the sheet of paper I'd started it on, and, as I watched a show on msnbc about a sting operation that took place not only in the city I currently live in, but also a block or so away from where I currently live - I had no idea stuff like that was going on in this neighborhood, but I did get a bit of a laugh out of seeing it took place in this particular city. So did my mom - I worked on it. It was interesting to see how I could switch gears so easily, going from being so interested in the show and swearing at the television to writing this and working in a completely differenct state of mind, almost in tears most of the time, and actually in tears by the end. The mind of a writer never ceases to amaze...

I cried while I wrote this. No joke. Especially towards the end. And after I finished writing it, I went back through and read it and cried some more. I cried myself to sleep last night because of this Fic. So I hope you like it. And I hope it touches you like it touched me.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own InuYasha. Sometimes I wish I did, but then, if I did, it probably wouldn't be as awesome as it is, so I wouldn't even want to own it anymore.

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><p>After the Bone Eater's Well sealed for the final time, all InuYasha had to do was wait. He waited for Miroku to come up with a job for him to help with, he waited for Sango or Miroku to relieve him of the brats when he was baby-sitting, he waited for the night to come so he could just fucking sleep and forget all about the nightmarish existence he now led - at least for a little while - he waited for Kagome to come back to him, he just... He waited.<p>

Every day he tried to make it to the Bone Eater's Well, but more often than not, he couldn't bring himself to do that, so instead, he made himself go every three days. He sat on the lip of the Well for hours at a time, not minding in the least that he wasted whole days just sitting there, because if she _did_ return, it'd be worth it to smell her scent, feel her warmth, and bask in her being. Until then, however, all he could do was wait.

Years went by, time passed, and every three days he would be there, sitting on the lip of the Well, waiting. Slowly, everything around him began to change and everyone he knew, all his closest friends, began to die.

Kaede went first. Quietly in her sleep one night, several years after Kagome left, she just stopped breathing. Rin took over as village priestess but eventually married Kohaku and stepped down, leaving some village girl she'd been training in the role of village priestess in her place. The pair had seven children, three boys, three girls, and one stillborn. Whenever Kohaku was off on a demon-slaying job, either solo or with InuYasha or Miroku or whoever, Sango and her eldest daughters helped Rin with her kids. Four of her six living children - two boys and two girls - went on to become demon slayers, while the other two - one boy and one girl - went on the become a priest and priestess respectively.

Sango and Miroku had twenty-two kids in total before Sango died delivering their twenty-third child, which turned out to be stillborn anyway. Miroku never remarried, and all but a handful moved away when they became of appropriate ages, the remaining settled down and remained in the village. Only three, however, had children of their own that survived to full adult-hood and started families of their own.

Shippou eventually grew up to be a strong demon - stronger than InuYasha initially thought he'd be, anyway - and eventually found and mated with a female demon. Together, they had but a single kit before being slaughtered by a group of samurai that thought them more threatening than they truly were. The kit somehow survived and found its way to InuYasha at the Bone Eater's Well. He raised and trained it until it was grown and skilled enough to take care of itself. By that point, however, everyone InuYasha once knew was gone and any proof that Kagome even existed somewhere out there was slowly starting to fade. There was no longer anyone around to tell him that _yes_, it had all happened, and _no_, this wasn't all some dream. Sango, Miroku, Kohaku, Rin, Shippou, Kouga, Kaede, Toutousai, Jaken, and Myouga were all dead now. Hell, even Sesshoumaru was eventually killed by some unknown force or cause.

The hanyou was no longer recognized and respected by all for what he'd done with his friends, once again on the outskirts of society and all alone. It got to a point where no one but him even remembered what had happened or who Naraku was. But he needn't worry about that, because the world around him was changing. Demons were pushed out of society and driven to near extinction, making them no better than InuYasha himself. It seemed that everything that had mattered _so much_ before no longer did. But InuYasha couldn't care less. As long as he was able to visit the Well every three days, he was…

The years went by and somewhere in the back of his mind, he always knew she'd never come back, but he had to hope, because otherwise he had no reason to live, and a life, Kagome had taught him, was such a terrible thing to waste. So he held on and kept hoping. Just for her.

Years turned into decades, decades into centuries, and InuYasha got no younger. Slowly, he knew his health was going and that one day soon, he was going to die. His forest was destroyed and a great house and shrine built on top of its remains, while the surrounding area slowly became modern-day Tokyo. At first, the advancements pissed him off, but he became calm as soon as he remembered that that house was the very one Kagome would someday live in, and that alone kept him from going on a killing spree. Well, that and his old age.

Still, despite everything, he still found himself back at the Bone Eater's Well every three days, his speed the one thing not effected by his old age. His appearance stayed the same, but internally, everything was slowly getting ready to shut down. The only thing that kept him going this long, Miroku and Sango's living bloodline speculated, was his strong will and determination to see _her_ again.

As time went on, however, InuYasha got to the point where he was unable to make the trek to the Well, so he merely stayed hidden in the house of Miroku and Sango's some-odd-great-granddaughter - Aikiko - along with her husband -Mark. Both knew his story and had no qualms about housing him as the rest of her family had before her. From his story, they figured this Kagome girl would be born soon enough and since she, Aikiko, was pregnant as well and he, Mark, was a doctor at the hospital down town where they were sure she would be delivered at, they privately agreed to keep an ear open for the name Higurashi. They knew news would come eventually, but in the meantime, they'd just have to wait.

And then, one day sometime in May, a very pregnant Aikiko came bursting into InuYasha's room, out of breath and startling him from his sleep, which was all he seemed to do these days near the end of his life.

"Inu... Yasha... I just got a call... From Mark... Higurashi just gave birth... At the hospital... Down town..."

He bolted up, moving faster than he had in years, and ran to the window, completely on autopilot. His world had been a cold, dark, lonely place for the past five hundred years without Kagome and he knew he was not much longer for this world anyway, so to be able to see her again, even as an infant… It filled him with a warmth he had almost forgotten he'd ever been able to feel.

When he got to the window and got it opened far enough for him to jump out of, however, he paused and turned to Aikiko, knowing in the depths of his soul that this was the last time he'd be seeing her. He felt he needed to say something. Anything, really, just to show he appreciated everything she had done for him, even if the words themselves weren't entirely for her…

"Thank you, Aikiko. And tell Mark I said thank you as well. Sango and Miroku would be _proud_ that it's you two carrying on their bloodline. You're good people, and that kid of yours will be in good hands.

"Don't worry about me, if I don't come back. I've waited so long just to see her again… At least I'll die happy. But… Could you do me one final favor? Get to know the Higurashis and… Make sure Kagome always knows that there are people who love her and care about her. Tell her… Tell her to live a strong life and to never give up. Tell her her smile is one of the most beautiful things in the world and that people will find comfort in her presence. Just… Tell her to stay happy. Tell her that her life is sacred and special and to never doubt or forget that. And one day in the far future, when she comes back and is stuck in this time for the rest of her life, tell her I never forgot her and that she was on my mind until the very end and that I'll always be there for her, even when I'm not. All she has to do is look up and pray, and I'll always be watching over her, keeping her safe, just like I promised. I'll never break that promise. And tell her… Tell her I've always loved her." And then, he was gone, leaving Aikiko staring after him and praying he found what he had been waiting for. He had waited so long that it just didn't seem fair that he was going to die just as she was being born into the world. It _wasn't_ fair. Not in the least. But that was how life was sometimes; no matter how much someone deserved a happy ending, sometimes they just never got it.

InuYasha wasted no time whatsoever getting to the hospital Aikiko had told him about. He hadn't moved that fast in years and it pained every muscle in his body to do so, but he just had to remind himself with each stride across some building or another that it was all to see Kagome one final time. That alone gave him the will to ignore the pain and make it to the hospital.

Once there, locating which room Mrs. Higurashi was in wasn't hard to do. All he had to do was go down the line and look in the windows until he found her, laying in her hospital bed, holding a beautiful baby girl that she named Kagome the second InuYasha situated himself in a comfortable enough position outside the window, leaning up against a tall, sturdy tree.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he strained his ears to hear Mrs. Higurashi coo out Kagome's name and Kagome giggle in response. Or maybe she was giggling at the dog-eared boy she was able to spot from the position she was being held in, he couldn't tell which.

After a moment of catching his breath, InuYasha placed a hand on the hilt of his Tetsusaiga - even though there hadn't been need for it in years, he still kept it with him at all times; yet another reminder of Kagome that he couldn't bear to part with - and whispered,

"Well, Tetsusaiga, looks like we're home now. Home at last." Tetsusaiga pulsed beneath his fingers and he smiled. Somehow, he knew that Tetsusaiga would be happy to be in the presence of Kagome again. With a small smile, he then turned to the window and addressed the infant who was gazing at him with half-lidded eyes. This was the first time she was seeing him, and the last time he was seeing her. He waved a small wave and began again, this time addressing the girl through the glass. Though he knew she'd be unable to hear him, he still felt this needed to be said. For both of them.

"I've waited almost five-hundred years to see you again, Kagome. You're just a baby right now, but you'll grow up to be a strong, smart, amazing, beautiful girl - trust me on this. I've waited so long to see you again, but… It was worth the wait. _You're_ worth the wait. I… I love you, Kagome. Never forget that…" he mumbled, his eyes slipping closed as the rest of his life force and energy began to drain out of him. He'd done it. He'd seen her one final time. He was ready to die now.

With what he had left in him, he brought a clawed hand up to finger his beads of subjugation and then every bit of him began to vanish. His body, his clothes, his sword, his beads, every little bit and piece of him faded into the air until there was nothing left of him. Above that side of the hospital, a rainbow appeared almost immediately after-wards, though it hadn't rained in weeks.

A month later, when Aikiko gave birth to a girl and named her Yuka, a rainbow appeared as well.

And every year afterwards, on Kagome's birthday, wherever she was, there was always a rainbow.

Always.

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><p>So there's no real mention of <em>how<em> things got to be how they are - how it went from the Sengoku Jidai to modern-time, and there's no mention of any wars or the atomic bomb being dropped or anything, because none of that mattered to him. He survived and that's all that matters. It's a bit sad, don't you think? I've always been a fan of the happy ending, but this one… It couldn't have a happy ending. In this case, InuYasha got screwed over big time, but he took it all in stride. Still made me cry, though. Dunno if it was just me or what…

So anyway, let me know what you think.

Peace out,  
>~Hisa-Ai~<p> 


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